Some people may see a block of wood as just that ... a simple block of wood.

But when Everett Israel picks up that piece of wood, he envisions what it could become — possibly a set of salad bowls, a spice rack, cutting boards or even a mantle clock. Israel also sees beyond the type of wood before him and imagines how he could entertwine that wood, possibly a walnut or maple, with a piece of exotic wood like a blood red, lace or purple heart, to create a striping or a checkerboard design to ultimately make a truly unique, one-of-a-kind finished product.

For Israel, his woodworking is about imagining and then creating something that wasn't there before.